Masterclass Projects (Spring 2022) | Boston University CFA School of Theatre Program Book

Masterclass Projects Dead Man’s Cellphone Written by Sarah Ruhl Driected by Ludmila de Brito CFA 106

Februrary 26, 5:00 PM Februrary 27, 10:00 AM

Mercury Written by Steve Yockey Directed by Enzo Gonzales CFA 105

Februrary 26, 7:30 PM Februrary 27, 12:00 PM

Dead Man’s Cellphone Written by Sarah Ruhl

Production Team Hannah Eckert Tess Evans-Shell Gage Baker Andrew Wehling Peyton Tavares Stacy Brannan Eduardo M. Ramirez Kortright Slick Jorgensen Claire Soleil Gardner Ludmila de Brito

Music Claire Soleil Gardner Rachel Harris

Cast Mishka Yarovoy Michaela Lazarou Emma Cahoon Lydian Grosswendt Janelle Grace EJ Hanson Claire Soleil Gardner

A Note from the Director Dead Man’s Cellphone by Sarah Ruhl is about isolation: how do we navigate loss and the techno-limbo that we are saddled with, in this day and age?

So many of us have recently lost people we love, and haven’t been given the time/ chance/tools to grieve or move on. Once they are gone, how do we remember who we are? Constantly alone in rooms full of people, hypnotized by the blue light from our phone screens.

In this production, we are hoping to learn with Jean as she paves the way into this healing journey we all crave. From that coffee shop through the myriad of wires, family, connections, and phone calls to a man she never even met. Does she lose herself within his story or does she find her place in this world? Would YOU pick up the Dead Man’s Cellphone?

Ludmila de Brito

Mercury Written by Steve Yockey

Production Team Lisa Coleman Slick Jorgenson James D. Templeton Kevin Fulton Quinn Barnes Enzo Gonzales Mackenzie Adamick

Cast

Makha Kekana Peter Dimaggio Jojo Leiato Jenna Dean Hampton Richards Jack Dillon Tommy Vines

A Note from the Director We all wish we lived in a world where people got what was coming to them. But we should be careful what we wish for. Mercury by Steve Yockey looks at all the nefarious ways we terrorize and entangle each other, on the quantum and the macro scales, as he takes us on a journey across the fabric of space and time from idyllic rural Oregon to the farthest reaches of… Hell in Space? He notes in his introduction to the play: “For a short time, a moon of Mercury was thought to exist. On March 27, 1974, two days before the Mariner 10 probe made its flyby of the planet, instruments began registering large amounts of ultraviolet radiation that, according to one astronomer, “had no right to be there.” But by the next day, the radiation had disappeared. It then reappeared, seeming to originate from an object independent of Mercury. Shortly thereafter, this flickering “moon” was explained away simply as a star making noise in the background of the sensors.”

But Yockey delves deeper: imagery of heat, knives, and blood are riddled throughout his text, danger looms large, and it’s impossible not to think of the rampant wildfires that for large parts of the summer make North America a true hell on earth, and the precipice of destructive violence that our country always feels a hairs’ breadth away from. How can we examine ourselves and our complicity in abusing ourselves, eachother, and the natural world in the interest of short-sighted self-preservation? Can the violence we perpetrate be beautiful?

After all, if the solution to a problem isn’t beautiful, it must be incorrect.

Enzo Gonzales

Upcoming Projects LIZZIE: The Musical FEB 26 - MAR 3

“Jewels 2” Juliane Ethel Leilani Miller Studio Theatre, CFA 356 | 855 Commonwealth Ave

by Tim Maner & Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer | Directed by Emma Cavage Free admission; limited seating

Mac Beth FEB 27 - MAR 3 David Copeland Black Box Theatre, CFA 104 | 855 Commonwealth Ave

by Erica Schmidt | Directed by Gigi Juras Free admission; limited seating

Everybody MAR 1 - MAR 3 CFA 109 | 855 Commonwealth Ave

by Branden Jacob Jenkins | Directed by Melisa Pereyra and Jeb Burris Free admission; limited seating

For more details, visit www.bu.edu/cfa/theatre/season